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Eager and ready to play the lions softball team headed to Cathedral City to face some great competition last Thursday. Our first game against Florida started off with a lot of energy and a run in the first inning. Although we ended up taking a tough loss of 8-2 we had plenty of great at bats to get a couple of runs against the 5th ranked team in the country. Our next game against Cal State Fullerton did not go as expected. The teams energy seemed a little down from our long break in between games and ended up with another loss of 1-7.

A new day and a good nights sleep gave the team the energy and excitement we needed for our game against #14 Arizona. A run scored in the first inning gave us the confidence to play as a whole. A battle was faced throughout the entire game and we ended up with a score of 3-5. Although this was a loss it was probably one of the best games we have ever played as a team before. We hope to continue this energy and attitude for the rest of the season.

The last and final day of the tournament left us with games against Northwestern and UNLV. The Northwester game went into extra innings thanks to the home-run from Meghan Harman to keep us at a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 7th inning. The game went for 9 innings and Northwestern ended up with some timely hitting in order to have a final score of 3-7. The energy and attitude that we have been working on was apparent during the entire game. Keeping that focus brought us with a win against UNLV! Finally our hard work and great energy is paying off. We cannot wait to keep this up and show everyone the team that we can be in the future!

This blog is written
by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. Ray
works in the LMU Sports Media department, is a leader of the ROAR Student
Section, is a former sports writer at The Los Angeles Loyolan, and is a member
of The Crimson Circle service organization. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics
will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance at the week that
was in Lion Sports.

As the basketball teams continue to struggle, disappoint,
and sometimes embarrass the LMU community, the fan base is beginning to look
towards the spring sports season with hopes of Lion success.

The sun is out and the grass is looking good at Page Stadium,
where the baseball team will open up its season this weekend when they host
Utah for a three-game series. Tuesday night in the batting cages, the LMU
baseball program is having its first event of the new "10th Man"
project in hopes to gain more of a fan presence in the stands at baseball games
for 2013.

Softball opened up their 2013 season last weekend in St.
George, Utah, where they played five games in three days in true collegiate
softball fashion. The Red Desert Classic gave LMU five games against five
opponents to kick off the year. The Lions started off strong with a 9-0 win
over Colorado St. and a 6-0 win over Weber St. The Lions also beat Utah St.
3-0, but lost games against Utah and Arkansas for a 3-2 tournament
record.

The women's water polo team also had a big weekend, going
3-1 with three of the four games decided by two goals or less. At the UCSD
Triton Invitational, LMU opened play against the host team, #19 UC San Diego,
which ended in a bitter 8-7 loss. The Lions then went on to win the rest of
their games with big wins over Marist, CSU Bakersfield, and #10 Michigan.

Women's tennis also continued its early season hot streak
last week with a 7-0 sweep of UC Riverside at home. The Lions are now 3-1 and
undefeated at home to start the 2013 campaign. They will continue their full,
tough non-conference schedule next weekend against UC Santa Barbara and
Colorado.

The men's tennis team is still trying to find its rhythm
early on in the season. The Lions are in the midst of a long and exhausting
road trip, containing match after match of tough competition. This along with
three crucial injuries has resulted in a 0-6 start after falling to UC Santa
Barbara 6-1 and losing 5-2 at Cal Poly.

The women's basketball team finally got a much-needed win last
week, when they took down Santa Clara 71-50 at home last Thursday. The victory
snapped a four-game losing streak but was followed with a game against first
place Gonzaga, in which the Lions lost 70-56.

As for the men's basketball team, most of you know the
story. The Lions have displayed a fruitless offense all year and continue to
live and die by the three. And for a team that is bad at shooting threes, that
means lots of death. LMU continued to shoot terribly from the field in the
Northwest over the weekend, as the team dropped to 1-10 in WCC play after a
69-60 loss at Portland and a 74-55 loss at Gonzaga.

The moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived! The kick off to softball season has started in the cold and chilly mountains of Saint George, Utah. For some of us it was a first time of seeing snow fall. And ifyou were wondering...yes we did play while it was snowing during a game tonight!
To kick off the year on Thursday, February 7, the lady lions competed against Colorado State University bringing in our first win of 9-0! Shout out to freshman Stephanie Crist for two homeruns that game as well as freshamn pitcher Sydney Gouveia for throwing a great game.
Our first game today against Weber State University started off with excitement ending in a 6-0 win! Everyone contributed and played as a team. A strong start continued in our second game of the day against the University of Utah with a 3 run lead in the first inning. Unfortunately that did not continue to the end of the game where we fell to our first loss of a score 9-3.
Eating a nice meal and getting some sleep is on our list for tonight. We cannot wait to come back strong as a team tomorrow and take more W's. Cross your fingers it is a bit warmer too!
LION LOVE

This blog is
written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore Communication Studies major from Eugene,
Ore. Ray works in the LMU Sports Media department, is a leader of the ROAR
Student Section, is a former sports writer at The Los Angeles Loyolan, and is a
member of The Crimson Circle service organization. His weekly recap of LMU
Athletics will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance at the
week that was in Lion Sports.

Lion pride is at a true low point around campus these days, with most
LMU teams continuing their slumps over the past week.

In what some might call the most anticipated LMU sporting event every
year, the men's basketball team had no answers for the visiting Gonzaga
Bulldogs. Last Thursday, LMU hosted Gonzaga in front of a packed Gersten
Pavilion with hopes of upsetting the No. 7 Bulldogs, who are undefeated in the
WCC. But the Lions failed to get stops on defense or baskets on offense, which
added up to an embarrassing 88-43 loss.

The women's basketball team had an unpleasant visit to the Northwest
over the weekend, dropping another two conference games, extending their losing
streak to four. Thursday night, the Lions fell to Gonzaga 79-57 before losing
another close game with Portland, 65-63 on Saturday.

In their final
meet before the season finale at the MPSF Championships, the LMU swimming team
dropped a pair of decisions at UC Santa Barbara Saturday. At the double dual
meet, the Lions fell to host UCSB 176-85 and also lost to Pacific 159-103. This
meet ended the Lions' regular season, as the team will now begin preparation
for the conference championships in two weeks.

The women's
tennis team provided the highlight of the week when they upset No. 39 Long
Beach St. at home 4-3 on Friday. The big non-conference win took the Lions to
2-0 to start the season. However, their luck changed when they went on the road
Sunday as LMU was swept 7-0 to No. 65 UC Irvine.

The men's tennis
team had a tough test at hand on Sunday as they took on No. 2 USC, who has
dominated the region for years. The Lions lost 6-1 and dropped to a bitter 0-4
to start 2013.

While most of
the teams in season are struggling, other teams are making coaching moves in
hopes to foster future success. The women's volleyball team just named Ron
Larson as its top assistant coach. Larson is the former head coach at UC
Riverside and has also helped coach the U.S. Olympic team. The softball team
just added Katie Schroeder to the coaching staff as well. Schroeder was a
two-time All-American for UCLA before graduating last year.

As fall passes by and winter approaches one thing that has not changed for the softball team has been 6AM weights. For the last four years the words "6AM weights" has seemed to haunt us all. The mornings of weights have a few rules that the whole team has implemented into their morning regimen:

1. Wake up ten minuets before you have to be at weights

2. Sleep in your clothes you are going to workout in the night before therefore you have a few more minuets to sleep

3. No time for eating before hand...that would take precious sleep time away

4. Sprint to your car because you only have five minuets left before you get there

5. Sprint from your dorm room and struggle to run down the stairs in fear of being late

Since this is softball's first time blogging I would like to start this off by stating that we are not your average softball team. I think that we are actually completely opposite from average in every way possible. There is never a dull moment in our dugout. The personalities on our team allow for constant laughter wherever we go. I must say that our number one goal is to have fun and we accomplish that every day. I don't think that the freshman knew what they were getting themselves into but they seemed to have fit right in with our family. The year has started off great with our few fall games that we played. Everyone seems to play extremely well with each other! We are so excited for our season to start up in the spring. Our biggest accomplishment this year so far has been winning Midnight Madness for the second year in a row! We can thank one of our senior pitchers, Dana Waldusky, for helping us out with that one. One of our songs performed was "gangnam style" and Dana dressed up to look exactly like the guy in the music video. If you do not know what this is I suggest to google it to get a feel and a good laugh. Be sure to keep reading our blog posts as the weeks go on! You'll be sure to get the inside scoop about what goes on in the dugout.

This blog is written by Ray Ferrari, a sophomore
Communication Studies major from Eugene, Ore. His weekly recap of LMU Athletics
will be posted here every Monday allowing for a quick glance for the week that
was in Lion Sports.

Friday, one of the biggest nights every year in Lion
Athletics occurred when LMU held its annual Madness at Midnight event. The
night got fans excited for the upcoming basketball season, introducing everyone
to the players of both the men's and women's teams. Players from both teams
competed in a free throw contest, a three-point contest, as well as a dunk
contest for some of the men. Along with showcasing the basketball talent,
Madness was also an opportunity for the student body to see all of the school's
Division I sports teams on display through dance competitions, which the
softball team won. The night included food trucks and giveaways for students as
well.

The women's soccer team had a huge weekend, earning six
points through two conference victories. On Friday in Malibu, LMU destroyed
then ranked #15 Pepperdine 3-0 getting all three goals in the first eleven
minutes of play. Then at home Sunday, the Lions defeated San Francisco 1-0
after scoring 11 seconds into the first overtime period.

LMU Volleyball had an impressive weekend, also getting two
much-needed wins. In the Northwest for the weekend, the Lions improved to 5-1
on the road this season as they swept Gonzaga Thursday and beat Portland in
straight sets as well on Saturday.

An injury-filled men's water polo team continued to sink
over the weekend, losing to two conference rivals. The #9 Lions had been on a
roll with a seven-game winning streak before a series of setbacks led the Lions
to drop matches to #1 USC a week ago and to #10 Long Beach St. and to #11 UC
San Diego over the weekend.

In the final race before the WCC Championships, the men's
and women's cross country teams sent four runners a piece to tune up at the
Titan Invitational in Fullerton. The Lions did not have enough runners for the
teams to place but will be in full force at the conference championship meet in
Portland next weekend.

The men's tennis team competed at the ITA Regional
tournament in Irvine over the weekend. Four Lions competed in singles and
doubles events with the #7 seeded duo of Nicholas Bjerke and Sebastian
Bustamante still alive in the doubles semifinals. In singles, Bjerke also
advanced to the round of 16.

The women's tennis team was in San Diego for their ITA
Regional tournament. April Bisharat and Reka Rohonyl both advanced to the round
of 32 in singles competition while Kristine Kouyoumjian made it to the
semifinals in the consolation bracket before the final two rounds were rained
out.

The men's golf
team went abroad last week for the Cabo Collegiate tournament in Cabo San
Lucas, Mexico. What was meant to be a three round event turned into only 18
holes of competition as day two could not be finished and day three never began
due to rainy conditions. Tyler Torano's 72 was good for a tie for second place in
the tournament with his back nine score of 33 good for the best nine-hole score
in the event. The team finished in ninth place.

Sam Fischer concluded her senior season at LMU by leading the nation in batting average (.492) and becoming the first Lion in softball program history to earn All-American honors. In June, she achieved another milestone - being named to the 2012 USA Softball Women's National Team.

Check out this feature from the <i>Norman (OK) Transcript</i> on Fischer's rise from LMU to earning an opportunity to try out, and be selected to Team USA.